Compare The Approach To Psychotherapy Of Carl Roge

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Within this essay I shall look at Carl Rogers’ model of Person-Centred Therapy (PCT) and Albert Ellis’ Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy. Rogers developed Person-Centred Therapy in the 1940s and 1950s and it can be best described as a genuine relationship or interaction, in which you are comfortable to be yourself, and in which the other person clearly sees your potential. This form of therapy places much of the responsibility for the treatment process on the client, with the therapist taking a non-directive role. In comparison Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) was first introduced in 1955 by Doctor Albert Ellis, who drew from his knowledge of philosophy and psychology to devise a more directive and therefore what he believed to be a more effective approach to psychotherapy. REBT is where a patient can be taught to effect emotional wellbeing by changing negative and irrational thoughts to positive and rational ones in order to prevent separation of the mind. In short, Ellis believed that it was not a person’s external world that made them unhappy, but instead their attitude towards it and therefore his aim was to show a patient the difference between natural healthy negative emotions and destructive unhealthy negative emotions. I have chosen to refer to Doctor Everett Shostrom’s 1964 educational films, entitled ‘Three Approaches to Psychotherapy’, in order to better investigate the key similarities and differences between Rogers’ and Ellis’ therapeutic models. ‘Three Approaches to Psychotherapy’ was the first time complete psychotherapy sessions had been filmed where three therapists, distinguished by their different orientations, shared their therapeutic endeavours. It provides us with a unique opportunity to sit in on the private therapeutic experience of all three with one client. The client, a recently divorced young mother, ‘Gloria’, was in
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